Paragraph Styles Options

ePublisher provides many options to allow you to customize your content transformation process and implement the online features you need. For example, the options define table of contents levels, popup windows, and related topics, as well as many other features and behaviors.

Additional CSS classes

Specifies an additional class name to include in the output class name for the selected style. This option is helpful if you are using a custom .css file. ePublisher supports this option only in output formats that support cascading style sheets. This option is available all styles except marker styles.

This option lets you specify other classes to add to the class statement in the generated output for the selected style. For example, if you have a class in your .css file called Red that defines the text color as red, you can specify Red in the Additional CSS classes option for each style you want to have red text. ePublisher adds this class to the class name in the generated output, such as classname=”sourcestylename Red”.

Apply character styles

Specifies whether ePublisher uses the character style formatting within the selected paragraph style. Character styles specify characteristics like font size and style for one or more characters. When you set the Apply character styles option to Enabled, ePublisher applies character formatting to the content within the selected paragraph style in your source documents. This option is available only for paragraph styles.

Citation

Specifies that ePublisher recognizes and formats the text with this style as quotation content. A citation is a reference or footnote to a book, article, or other material that specifies the source from which a quotation was borrowed. The citation for a quote enables users to go to a Web site that contains more information about the quote.

You must define a Citation paragraph or character format and a Citation marker to specify a URL citation. The paragraph or character format with this option enabled identifies the quote in the generated output. The Citation marker defines the URL for the Web site with more information. When you hover over the quote in the output file, a popup window displays the URL. This option is available only for paragraph and character styles.

Dropdown

Specifies whether to use the selected paragraph style to define an expand/collapse section, also called a dropdown hotspot. Some output formats, such as Simple HTML, do not support expand/collapse sections. This option is available only for paragraph styles.

You can configure the expand/collapse section to initially be hidden or shown. When the user clicks the dropdown hotspot, the content expands and collapses to allow the user to view more or less information. The expand/collapse content can include multiple paragraph styles. You can use the DropDownEnd marker to identify the end of the expand/collapse content. If you have a specific paragraph style that always serves as the ending point for your expand/collapse content and is not included in the expand/collapse content, set this option for that paragraph style to Break. By default, all paragraph styles are included in the expand/collapse content. The values for this setting are defined as follows:

Value

Description

Break

Specifies the paragraph style is never included in expand/collapse content. A paragraph style with this option set to Break ends the expand/collapse content section.

Continue

Specifies the selected paragraph style does not change the expand/collapse content output. If the selected paragraph style is within an expand/collapse content section, the Continue value directs ePublisher to include the content as part of the expand/collapse content. This value is the default for paragraph styles.

Start open

Displays the content in the expand/collapse section when the page is initially displayed. The paragraph with this option set provides the hotspot where the user can click to show or hide the expand/collapse content. This paragraph style starts the expand/collapse section.

Start closed

Hides the content in the expand/collapse section when the page is initially displayed. The paragraph with this option set provides the hotspot where the user can click to show or hide the expand/collapse content. This paragraph style starts the expand/collapse section.

Element name

Specifies the name of the element that contains the content of the associated style when ePublisher converts it to XML output. This option is available only for paragraph styles and graphic styles for the XML+XSL output format.

Generate output

Specifies whether the selected style is included in the generated output. This option is available for all styles except marker styles. By default. the Generate output option is set to Enabled so that all content is included in the output. If you select Disabled, the content with the selected style does not appear in the generated output.

Glossary behavior

Specifies whether ePublisher uses the paragraph style to format glossary terms and definitions displayed on the Glossary tab in Sun JavaHelp. This option is available only for the Sun JavaHelp output format.

Keep empty paragraphs

Specifies whether ePublisher generates output for paragraphs with the selected style that do not have any content. For example, at the end of chapters in Microsoft Word, you may have multiple blank paragraphs to create the footer on a blank even page. To exclude the empty paragraphs from your generated content, select the paragraph style of the blank paragraphs in Style Designer and set the Keep empty paragraphs option to Disabled. If you leave this option set to its default value of Enabled, ePublisher can display blank lines in your generated output.

Keep paragraph numbering

Specifies whether ePublisher includes the auto-generated numbers for the selected paragraph style in your source documents. For example, chapter titles, headings, figure captions, and table captions may have auto-numbering in your source documents that you do not want to include in your online content. To exclude the autonumbering, select the paragraph style that contains autonumbering and set the Keep paragraph numbering option to Disabled.

Mini-TOC levels

Specifies whether to include a miniature table of contents (mini-TOC), also known as a partial table of contents, and what table of contents levels to include in the mini-TOC. A mini-TOC provides a small-scale look at the topics in the upcoming section. The topic titles are displayed as links beneath the current topic heading for easier navigation within the section.

ePublisher does not create mini-TOCs by default. To create a mini-TOC following a paragraph style. set this option to a value other than None. ePublisher generates the mini-TOC on all pages on which the selected paragraph style occurs. ePublisher creates the mini-TOC for all styles with TOC level settings in the specified range between the selected paragraph style of the current topic and the next occurrence of this same style. The values for this setting are defined as follows:

Value

Description

All

Creates a mini-TOC for all TOC levels up to the next occurrence of the current paragraph style and displays the mini-TOC on all output pages on which this paragraph style occurs.

None

Does not create a mini-TOC.

n

Creates a mini-TOC for all TOC levels from 1 through the number specified (where n equals any numeric value), up to the next occurrence of the current paragraph style. The mini-TOC is displayed on all output pages on which this paragraph style occurs. For example, if you specify 1, ePublisher creates a mini-TOC for all TOC levels 1, up to the next occurrence of the current paragraph style. If you specify 4, ePublisher creates a mini-TOC for all TOC levels 1 through 4, up to the next occurrence of the current paragraph style.

Specifies how to handle page breaks for the selected paragraph style. This option specifies whether to create a new page starting with the selected paragraph style and allows you to avoid new pages with a heading and no content if two headings occur in a row in your source documents. The default value is None, which does not create a new page.

This option works with the Page break handling format setting to give you complete control for how ePublisher handles page breaks. To access the Page break handling format setting, click Format Settings on the Target menu. With the default Page break handling format setting, to create a new page every time the selected paragraph style exists, select the highest priority level of 1. To create a new page only if the preceding paragraph did not create a new page, select a lower priority level of 2 through 5. For more information, see “Defining New Pages (Page Breaks)” on page 114.

palm-chapter-level

Specifies the chapter level of the selected paragraph style for the Palm Reader output format. The Palm Reader format enables you to convert your source files into eBooks that can be read with the Palm Reader software on handheld devices running Palm OS and Pocket PC software, as well as on Windows and Macintosh computers. This option is available only for the Palm Reader output format.

Pass Through

Disabled by default, but when Enabled the contents of matching paragraph style instances will be processed without escaping any of the reserved HTML characters. This is useful for embedding HTML code directly within your documentation.

Popup

Specifies whether a paragraph style is displayed in a popup window and how the content is displayed in your generated output. Define a paragraph style for the first paragraph to display in a popup window. If the popup window contains more than one paragraph of content, create a second paragraph style and apply it to all subsequent paragraphs that follow the first paragraph in the popup window. The values for this setting are defined as follows:

Value

Description

None

Does not create a popup window.

Define

Specifies the first paragraph of a popup window. The content of the selected paragraph is also displayed in the generated output file. Select this option only if you apply the paragraph style to the first paragraph of popup content and you want the content to be displayed in the topic as well as in a popup window.

Define with no output

Specifies the first paragraph of a popup window. Use this option to display the text only in a popup window. The content is not included in the topic where the content is defined. Select this option only if you apply the paragraph style to the first paragraph of popup content and you want the content to be displayed only in a popup window.

Append

Specifies additional paragraphs to include in a popup window that you already defined by a paragraph style with the Popup option set to Define.

Append with no output

Specifies additional paragraphs to include in a popup window that you already defined by a paragraph style with the Popup option set to Define with no output.

Specifies an alternate page style for the popup window associated with the selected paragraph style. ePublisher creates default popup windows with the same appearance as all other topic pages, including breadcrumbs and company information. You can define additional page styles to use for popup windows. To assign a page style other than the default page style to popup windows, you must first create the new page style in Style Designer. Then, select the paragraph style you use to designate popup window content and select the new page style in the Popup page style option.

If you are using marker styles to create popups, you cannot use page styles to control the appearance of popup windows. This method applies only to popup windows created with paragraph styles.

Related topic

Specifies whether the selected paragraph style provides links to topics that are similar to the current topic or may be of additional interest to the user. Related topic links are essentially cross-references to other corresponding topics within your output. Instead of displaying cross-references directly in your output, you can create a list of Related Topics links. The values for this setting are defined as follows:

Value

Description

None

Does not include the paragraph style in related topics.

Define

Displays the related topics link both within the body of the topic and when the user clicks the Related Topics button.

Define with no output

Displays the related topics link only when the user clicks the Related Topics button.

To create a Related Topics button and have the Related Topics links displayed in the output, create a paragraph style in the source documents that you apply to each related topic link. Then, create a list of Related Topics links for each topic. For more information, see “Defining Related Topics” on page 166.

See Also

Defines See Also link functionality for the selected paragraph or character style. See Also links are associative links, also called Alinks, that identify other topics that may be of interest to the user of the current topic. These links use internal identifiers to define links and the browser builds the list dynamically based on the topics available when the user displays the links.

To create a See Also link as inline text without a button, create a unique character style and select the See Also option for that style.

To use a button to display See Also links, create a unique paragraph style, select the See Also option for that style, and type the See Also text on that paragraph. The paragraph style properties selected in Style Designer affect the text of the See Also button.

You must also define SeeAlsoLink and SeeAlsoKeyword markers. HTML Help also supports the SeeAlsoLinkDisplayType and SeeAlsoLinkWindowType markers. These markers allow you to change how the See Also links are displayed in HTML Help. See Also links are not supported by all output formats, such Dynamic HTML and Simple HTML. For more information, see “Defining See Also Links” on page 168.

Table of contents level

Specifies the level of the table of contents (TOC) entry for the selected paragraph style. For example, setting this option to 1 specifies that all the paragraphs with the selected style appear in the TOC at the first level in the TOC hierarchy. Setting this option to 2 specifies that all paragraphs with the selected style appear in the table of contents at the second level. The Table of contents level option works in conjunction with the Page break priority option.

The value you specify for each of your paragraph styles determines the structure of the online version of your table of contents. These values also define the structure of mini-TOCs. ePublisher defaults this value to None, which does not include paragraphs with the selected style in the table of contents. This option is available only for paragraph styles. For more information, see “Defining TOCs and Mini-TOCs” on page 115.

Variable

Specifies the name for a variable that ePublisher creates. ePublisher sets the value of the variable to the contents of the selected paragraph or character style. You can then use this variable in your page layout override Page.asp file.

For example, if you want to include a section name in a banner area at the top of each topic in that section, you can assign a variable for the paragraph style of the section name. Then, you can modify the override Page.asp file to include this variable value in the page layout where you want it. Each topic in a section use the section name for that section, until the next section name defined by the paragraph style changes the value for the next section of topics. To insert a variable in the override Page.asp file, insert the following code in the file, where variable is the name of the variable you specify in this option:

<div wwpage:content="wwvars:variable">replaced variable value</div>

After processing the Page.asp file for a topic where the variable value is User Information, ePublisher replaces this code with the following code in the output file:

<div>User Information</div>

wiki-heading-level

Specifies the Wiki heading level of the selected paragraph style. For example, setting this option to 1 specifies that all the paragraphs with the selected style appear in the Wiki at the first level in the Wiki hierarchy. Setting this option to 2 specifies that all paragraphs with the selected style appear in the Wiki at the second level. The value you specify for each of your paragraph styles determines the structure of the Wiki output on the Wiki.

‘What is this’ marker

Specifies whether the selected paragraph style should define What’s This help content for field-level context-sensitive help. When the user right-clicks on a field in the user interface and then clicks What’s This on the right-click menu, the application displays this type of content. This content does not support formatting and is not supported in all output formats. The values for this setting are defined as follows:

Value

Description

None

Does not include the content in What’s This help content.

Define

Displays the content both in What’s This help and in the topic where the content is defined, such as in a glossary or a terminology list.

Define with no output

Displays the content only as What’s This help. The content is not included in the topic where the content is defined.